Specialty: Classic French cuisine, with an ever-expanding repertoire that includes authentic preparation of diverse cuisines including Thai, Italian, and South Indian.

Favorite thing about teaching at Kitchen on Fire: Sharing his knowledge and techniques with students. He also loves to convert "well-done" meat-eaters to medium-rare and makes it his mission to get people to appreciate spicy dishes beyond the heat factor.

Chef Jean-Gabriel (Gaby) Ferrandon grew up in the Auvergne region of France with his twin sisters and parents. He was fed by his mother’s classic French cooking, which was based on using the freshest of ingredients, in season, from the local farmer’s market and the town butcher. At six years old, Gaby received his first cookbook for Christmas. This small gift ignited a passion for the culinary world, and his journey to becoming a chef began.

Chef Gaby formally trained in culinary school in France and completed prestigious apprenticeships at La Tour d’Argent and Alain Ducasse's 59 Poincarré, 3 and 2 Michelin-starred restaurants, respectively, in Paris. It was during his culinary school training that he was introduced to the United States and American cooking through a class trip to the west coast. He fell in love with San Francisco and came back to make it his home.

Today, Chef Gaby cooks true to his classic French culinary training, while expanding his repertoire to include authentic preparation of diverse cuisines including Thai, Italian, and South Indian. Before joining Kitchen on Fire, Chef Gaby was sous chef and later, executive chef, at Bistro Clovis, a classic French bistro. He was also executive chef of Supperclub, anavant-garde restaurantwhere he surprised his guests with shocking and creative dishes like a black-and-white crème brulée served in an ashtray!

Chef Gaby is passionate about bringing food and people together. He strives to make learning to cook fun and accessible for all while sharing his talent, technical knowledge, and skills with his students and clients. As well as being an entertaining instructor, Chef Gaby’s teaching style focuses on technique, which translates into incredibly sexy food both on the palate as well as the plate. He believes that cooking can be a magical experience when you combine knowledge and passion with amazing ingredients.